The income tax (IRPF) that is paid for capital income could be higher in 2023. Among the battery of tax proposals that the Government has on income with the aim of achieving greater taxation of income and higher assets with which finance the measures against the energy crisis, a possible rise in personal income tax is on the table for income from checking accounts, investment funds, stock dividends, insurance or capital gains in general, as sources from the Executive have confirmed to EL PERIÓDICO.
already in the coalition agreement between PSOE and United We Can for the formation of the Government, the commitment was included to raise from 23% to 27% the rate at which capital income greater than 140,000 euros is taxed in personal income tax. In the 2021 Budgets, a first step was taken, raising the taxation of capital income from 23% to 26% from 200,000 euros. Now it is on the table to move in that direction, with a higher tax rate, applicable from a lower income level. Complying with the coalition agreement would imply raising the taxation of capital income from 23% to 27% above 140,000, which would lead to higher taxation of between 5,600 and 8,000 euros for taxpayers with a range of income from savings between that amount and the 200,000 euros. From this last amount the jump would be less, since a rate of 26% is already applied from the 2021 financial year. Specifically, going from 26% to 27% from 200,000 euros would mean a higher taxation of 2,000 euros in the lowest of the cases.
The White Paper on Tax Reform also advises bringing the taxation of savings closer to that of salaries
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These calculations serve as a reference if the coalition agreement is applied in its strict terms, but the final result may lead to other different combinations. In any case, this initiative may be part of the battery of tax measures that the Government is preparing, after the announcement by the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, about a “new tax on large fortunes”, temporary and payable in 2023 .
Income tax includes a double fee. On one side, salaries, pensions and professional income or business of the self-employed are taxed under a rate that, in general, ranges from 19% (for the lowest incomes) to 49% (for incomes from 300,000 euros per year), being able to reach a maximum rate of 54% in the Valencian Community. On the other hand, capital income They are taxed at a less burdensome rate, with rates ranging from 19% for annual income of up to 6,000 euros to 26% (from 200,000 euros).
The White Paper on the Tax Reform published in March by the commission of experts constituted by the Government justified the existence of a double rate, more benign for capital income, but advised a smaller difference with respect to the one applied on income of work: “The greater elasticity of capital income justifies the establishment of lower rates for this income, while the incentives to transform general income into capital income lead to approximate these rates to those applicable to general income & rdquor ;, it is stated in the said report.
Partial fulfillment of the coalition commitment
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According to the government coalition pact, what would now be on the table of the coalition government is to raise the rate applied to the section from 140,000 euros to at least 27%. The coalition agreement also included raise two points the general income tax base for rentals from €130,000 and four points for a stretch from €300,000. In the 2021 Budgets, a first step was taken with a two-point increase for income from 300,000 euros.
The introduction of a double scale in personal income tax was adopted as of the tax reform of 2006, under the Government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, with the argument of applying softer taxation in order to avoid the fiscal relocation of capital. Then a single rate of 18% was introduced, which has since been unfolded in subsequent reforms until setting up a scale with four rates (19%, 21%, 23% and 26%) for different tranches of capital income.